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PEPPER TAKES THE LEAD IN BACARDI CUP
Hamish Pepper and stand-in crew David Giles (AUS) are sitting in first place overall after an exhausting day two at the Bacardi Cup Miami, USA.

In extremely testing conditions with a breeze that shifted 60 degrees, Hamish Pepper said 'It was another tricky day on the water with lots of big shifts, you just had to roll with the punches a wee bit.'

'It was one of those races where you could make huge gains or losses depending on if you where in the right place at the right time. We sailed well and managed to climb back from being 20th at the top mark to finish the race in 3rd.'

Freddy Loof from Sweden sailed a solid race finishing 2nd and in 1st place was Jock Kohlhaus from the USA.

With today's result Freddy Loof has moved into 2nd place overall with 10 points, Ian Murray from Australia is in 3rd place with 11pts.

The racing will continue tomorrow with similar weather conditions predicted. -- Annabel Jeaffreson

Top five places after two races

1. Hamish Pepper, NZL, 5 points
2. Freddy Loof, SWE, 10
3. Ian Murray, AUS, 11
4. Mateusz Kusznierewicz, POL, 13
5. Matthias Miller, GER, 14

Sail-World.com: www.sail-world.com/indexs.cfm?nid=31546

Event site: www.bacardicup.com

FRUSTRATED FROM RIO
Sir Robin Knox-Johnston is not in the best of spirits when we speak to him this morning. The whisky supply is fine, but due to a navigation error, when he headed west last week, he has become stuck some 400 miles south of Rio de Janiero in north northeasterly headwinds. As a result yesterday morning he was forced to tack and sail due east to avoid the Brazilian coastline.

Asking Sir Robin how accurate the weather forecast has been now that he has working satcoms touches a nerve. "It has been extremely inaccurate and that is what has misled me totally. The decision to go west to get around the high was based on some weather information which turned out to be totally wrong. That is the problem with this trusty modern technology - it is not always very reliable. And this area, they don't have much data for it and so their model isn't very good. The further I get out into the Atlantic probably the better, but the reason I am where I am now is because I trusted the weather technology and I shouldn't have done, I should have gone back to the old Sailing Ship Routes of the World and I would have been a lot better off."

This morning the wind was blowing at around 17-18 knots and the sea was "a bit lumpy". Saga Insurance is reefed but making 9.8 knots upwind.

In retrospect Sir Robin believes he should have followed the same route as third placed Unai Basurko and Bernard Stamm some weeks before him and headed further east out into the Atlantic once north of the Falkland Islands. "I think Unai handled it very well. I should have followed Unai and just gone straight after him. That would have been much more sensible. But there you are. Unai got it right and he is away," says Sir Robin.

For now he is on a 'losing tack' (ie one taking him no closer to his ultimate destination) and he is likely to have to maintain this course for the best part of a day if he is to clear the Brazilian coastline at Recife. He will wait for the trade winds to kick in causing a shift in the wind direct more to the east and at this point will tack north, but this could be as much as a day away while all the time his rival for fourth place, Graham Dalton on the Open 50 A Southern Man-AGD, is making good progress in the right direction.

There is an added complication on the horizon too. "There is a little high pressure going to form to the north of us again and that will just put a complete block in if one isn't careful. So what we need to do is get out of this and into the Trade Winds. I think Unai is in them. Dalton will make it. I have still got to get there."

www.velux5oceans.com

MARINE SALES EXECUTIVE
Chichester based Vizual Marine is looking for a dynamic, successful salesperson to front their international sales campaign. This vibrant fast moving and progressive boat manufacturing business released the Artemis 20 last September and new projects are under preparation. Candidates must have the capacity to develop new business, find and establish resellers across Europe, reinforce the branding and class of our new concept boat designs. Must be a motivated team player and have a proven track record of marine sales.

www.vizmarine.com / This e-mail address is being protected from spam bots, you need JavaScript enabled to view it

CENTENNIAL CHURNS TO VICTORY
Borocay, Philippines: Centennial, a Sydney-made 46-footer proudly flying the national tri-color, celebrated a decade of excellence in the rough seas by ruling the premier class of the Manila-Boracay Race 2007, sailing triumphantly into the pristine waters of this island paradise shortly before dawn Monday.

Skipper Ernesto Echauz and his crew, including seven national team mainstays, beat eight rivals for the IRC Racing Class championship in the event flagged off from Manila Saturday afternoon.

Singaporean Mumm 30-foot yacht Happy Endings made an impressive debut in the annual event, finishing a strong second. Karakoa, another fancied local boat, came in third, followed by four Hong Kong bets Mandrake, Freefire, Jaywalker and Ho Ho Ho.

Maiden Hong Kong of Frank Pong did not finish and Hummingbird of Adam Ng retired in the race covering 200 nautical miles and passing through coastal waters of Manila, Corregidor, Maricaban, Mindoro and Romblon.

It was a fitting victory for Centennial as it celebrated a decade of sailing and racing marked by great achievements, including a sweep of the Lipton Series on her launching in 1997.

With stops of about six hours in Corregidor and Mestre de Campo, Centennial submitted an elapsed time of 36:56:11 and a winning corrected time of 43:30:40. She negotiated the same course in only 22 hours last year.

Mandrake, a Mills 51-footer by Fred Kinmouth, clocked the fastest elapsed time of 34:44:32 but wound up fourth with a corrected time of 44:44:53.

Huge boats Karakoa, Mandrake and Freefire gained early headway but Centennial pulled abreast as they hit the northern most tip of Mindoro.

Centennial has been one of the country's premier racing boats the last 10 years, launched in style in 1997 by sweeping the Singapore Strait, Raja Muda (Malaysia) and Kings Cup (Thailand) races for the Lipton Cup. The same boat has also won the China Sea Race from Hong Kong to Manila.

With the IRC Racing Class on off-shore race in the bag, the Centennial team now looks forward to making its mark in in-shore races in the President's Cup Regatta set tomorrow to Sunday in the Boracay waters. -- Nelson Beltran, Philippine Star, www.abs-cbnnews.com/storypage.aspx?StoryId=69002

ISAF ANNUAL CONFERENCE MOVES TO PORTUGAL
The 2007 ISAF Annual Conference, previously scheduled to take place in Athens, Greece, will be held in Estoril, Portugal at the Palacio Hotel and the adjoining Vila Gale Estoril. The Conference, held from 1-11 November in ISAF's Centenary Year, will incorporate the ISAF Rolex World Sailor of the Year Awards and the launch of the ISAF Sailing Hall of Fame.

Estoril is situated on the Portuguese coast, just 25 km west of Lisbon.

On Tuesday 6 November, the ISAF Rolex World Sailor of the Year Awards will be presented at a gala dinner celebrating the achievements of the nominees.

In its centenary year, ISAF will be launching a Sailing Hall of Fame at the Annual Conference.

Around the meeting rooms the principle debate is likely to focus around the selection of the ten events for the 2012 Olympic Sailing Competition.

Every year the ISAF Annual Conference brings together the leading figures from the sailing world to discuss, debate and decide upon the key issues in the sport of sailing.

The ISAF Meetings microsite - www.sailing.org/meetings - contains the Agendas, Supporting Papers and Submission from past meetings, 1997 to date. Via the online Minutes Archive you can access all past minutes of ISAF Committee Meetings from 1993 to date.

THE DESIGNER'S POINT OF VIEW
Valencia, Spain: For every team that participates in the America's Cup, the work of the design team is fundamental. They are the behind-the-scenes team that plan, study, and design the rockets that race in the Cup. Their work is a collaboration with the sailors who test and refer back to them regarding their designs. Experience, skill, and nonstop work are all characteristic of designers.

Mascalzone Latino-Capitalia Team designers Taro Takahashi, Mark McCafferty, and Rodrigo Quesada comment on the new rules and the design characteristics of the new America's Cup boats:

MLCT: Do you try innovations or stick to tested methods?

TT: "Start by trying to be innovative and in many cases we have to settle down somewhere in between the reality and the dream."
MM: "It's a game of evaluating where the innovations will beat the more traditional tested approaches. You need both to win."
RQ: "Depends on how much time & money you have."

MLCT: They say that the rule has now got so tight that boats will be virtually indistinguishable except for the paintjobs, is that true?

TT: "It is getting more and more difficult to find a break-thru design, but there will always be a relatively slower boat and a just a bit faster boat."
MM: "It's true that there is now less scope for large differences in the overall parameters than previously, although most of the V4 boats from the last Cup were all in this same corner of the rule already. There is also still plenty of scope for variation in appendages, rigging, deck layouts & the structures, so we'll all be looking forward to Unveiling Day on April 1st."
RQ: Well, it depends how much attention you give when you look at them…. They will be similar of course, but we will see clear differences in bow shapes, deck layouts, masts, some with bowsprits, some not. Also the hull shapes will be different, but here you will have to look more carefully…There will also be differences in internal structures, but this we can not see. Also appendages will be slightly different.

MLCT: So is there much difference in the performance between version 4 & version 5 boats?

TT: "Yes, there is a difference."
MM: "There's not much difference if you are just watching as a casual observer, however the differences between the V4 & V5 boats relative to the small gains we are looking are reasonably large."
RQ: "Not really."

Full interview at www.mascalzonelatino.com

SWAN 601 ARTEMIS IS AVAILABLE FOR CHARTER FOR THE 2007 SEASON
This is a rare opportunity to charter this 2005 stunning high performance German Frers-designed Swan. Sporting full carbon composite construction and renowned Nautor Styling, Artemis will provide you with the ultimate racing experience. She is fully race-prepared to the highest standard and raring to go.

Racing with a maximum crew of 16, Artemis is available for Caribbean and UK based race charters and corporate entertainment. She will also be available in the Mediterranean for America's Cup 2007 series viewing.

Please contact Peter Bresnan on +44799097081 or email This e-mail address is being protected from spam bots, you need JavaScript enabled to view it

INDUSTRY NEWS
* Entries for this year's Marine Industry Regatta have reached 39 boats, but there are more to come, says Peter Nash. 'We have 50 boats reserved with Sunsail and I'll be chasing more entries for the rest of this month.'

It's nice to see six first time entries and a total of three boats entered from the BMF and NBS - one of these is the Anglo French export award winner, but the other two will be crewed by staff from Egham.

The first time entries include Hyde Sails, Kayospruce, Laser (Performance Sailcraft Europe), Southampton Yacht Services, Sunsail and Tacktick.

The current entry list is: B&G, Bank of Scotland Marine Finance, Barclays Marine Finance, Barton Marine Equipment, Beacon Park Boats (defending champion), BMF/NBS - two boats, plus one for the winner of the Anglo French Export Award - Boating Business, boats.com, Bruntons Propellers, Cooney Marine, Design Unlimited, Halyard (M&I), Hyde Sails, International Paint, IPC - two boats for PBO and PBO/MBM advertising - Kayospruce, Laser (Performance Sailcraft Europe), Lewmar with three boats, Lombard Marine Finance, Navigators & General, the Oceanic Corporate Forum, Oval Stainless with a second boat for The Tank Company, Raymarine, Rockley Watersports with three boats, South Devon Marine, Southampton Yacht Services, Sunsail, Tacktick, VT Group Services and VT Shipbuilding

The MIR runs on April 24 and 25 this year.

More information from This e-mail address is being protected from spam bots, you need JavaScript enabled to view it or check out the event website at marineregatta.com to see what happened last year.

* The 2007 Fredericia International Boat Show closed on Sunday with a final attendance figure of 37,455. This represents a 0.1 per cent increase in visitors compared to the last time the show was held in 2005.

The Danish boat show, which is the biggest in Denmark, is open during two weekends but closed on weekdays.

The Fredericia show runs every second year as a complement to the International Boat Show in Copenhagen, which is held during the years between. -- Lars-Ake Redeen, IBI news, www.ibinews.com

* Finnish marine industry net sales for 2006 grew by 17.9 per cent over the previous year to 588.8 million Euros, according to figures released by Finnish industry body Finnboat. The growth was mostly attributed to a number of new boat brands on the Finnish market, as well as an increase in the average boat size.

Total boat sales on the home market grew by 14.2 per cent in 2006 to around 116.9 million Euros. Of this total, imported boats accounted for just 30-35 per cent in terms of value.

Unit sales of boats under 6m (20ft) fell by 0.7 per cent to 11,660, while boats from 6m-8m (20ft-26ft) grew by 10.9 per cent to 889. Boats in the 8m-10m (26ft-33ft) category also grew by 8.9 per cent to 147 units and boats of more than 10m (33ft) were up 3.8 per cent to 27 units. Sailboats over 20ft were down by 14.6 per cent to just 129 units.

As Customs' statistics were only available for the January-October 2006 period, the actual number of boats shipped over the border is not yet known. However, during the 10 months in question, around 10,418 boats were exported to 34 countries, generating sales of around 239.8 million Euros. This represents a 22.4 per cent increase over the previous year. -- IBI news, www.ibinews.com

* The B&G regatta support program has further expanded to provide technical and tactical advice at even more sailing events this year.

"This is our busiest year ever, with the ongoing America's Cup in Valencia and the inclusion of TP52s, GP42s, Russell Coutts 44s, Farr 40s, and X35s, just to mention a few," says Nat Ives, Race Specialist, B&G.

As the regatta program has grown, so has the worldwide team, which now includes Miles Seddon, who previously worked in Technical Support and Sales at B&G in Romsey, UK.

For the full B&G regatta calendar, please visit www.bandg.com/regattasupportcalendar.htm

* Hyde sails has appointed Johan Gransten, 40, as their first international distributor in Sweden. Johan has been involved in sail making for over ten years and now runs his own company, Tyreso Segel and Kapell, located in Haninge, 15 kilometres from Stockholm. Based in a 350sq metre unit the company specialises in making, repairing and cleaning sails and covers. Johan is exhibiting at the Stockholm boat show* - March 2nd to 11th, on stand C05.18.

* UK boatbuilder Fairlie Restorations is to change its trading name to just 'Fairlie' in a re-branding exercise aimed it says at broadening its appeal to the growing sector of people who enjoy what it describes as 'the functional arts' - namely restoring and owning classic cars and historic aircraft as well as classic sailing yachts.

"With restoration opportunities reducing we have proved the market need for 'new classics' such as our recently launched Niebla." Fairlie purchased the original William Fife yacht drawings and can now offer original yachts built from a collection of over 600 designs.

Currently Fairlie is undertaking a major refit programme on Altair, the 1931 William Fife design gaff schooner, as well as subcontract work on significant classic motoryachts. -- IBI news, www.ibinews.com

* Lewmar Ltd. has announced two new appointments to its Custom sales and service team.

Pete Cumming (left) joins Lewmar's Custom team to support its sales effort with leading classes and syndicates. Pete most recently worked for Mike Golding on 'Ecover', where he drove the sail development programme. Prior to this he worked with North Sails on the Olympic sails design and production for Athens 2004. He has strong contacts within the Open 60 and Open 40 markets alongside a number of big boat classes in the UK.

Jason Slingo (right) takes on the role of Custom Project engineer, to provide race boat installation and service. His role will also encompass the rapid prototyping and testing of new products for the race boat market. Jason has a BEng in mechanical engineering, specialising in design and materials. He has worked for Lewmar as a production and outsourcing engineer for three years.

FEATURED BROKERAGE
2005 Cookson 50 "CHIEFTAIN" POA (price on application)

Chieftain, a high tech Cookson 50 designed by Farr Yacht Design and built by Cookson Boats, has enjoyed an amazingly successful 2006 season winning in the Sydney-Hobart, UK IRC Nationals, BMW Round Ireland, Seven Star Around Briton & Ireland and 2nd at Cowes Week and finishing the season as IRCA Boat of the Year. This canting keel 50' has it all; speed, power, versatility and ease of sailing securing it's rightful place in IRC racing. Chieftain incorporates a proven and reliable canting keel system with a single forward canard providing incredible reaching and running speed and great upwind performance. Chieftain is now available, after a recent 2007 refit and ready to continue it's winning ways.

Brokerage through Farr Yacht Sales: www.FarrYachtSales.com

Complete listing details and seller contact information at: www.farrdesign.com/brokerage/Chieftain.htm

THE LAST WORD
When dealing with the insane, the best method is to pretend to be sane. -- Hermann Hesse

OC Events, www.ocevents.org , organisers of two major IMOCA 60 oceanic events, the new double-handed Barcelona World Race 2007, and the original solo transocean race, The Transat 2008 (ex-OSTAR) plus the Extreme 40 Sailing Series for The iShares Cup.

Over 80,000 boats for sale on www.boats.com

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